Relay.



A. V. T. DAY.

RELAY.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 29. 1908.

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A P P L l C A T 0 N F L E D O C129, 1908- 1 163 070. Patented Dec. 7, 1915. 9 9 2 EEEEEEEEEEEE 2.

[wuentor UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT V. T. DAY, OF NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE HALL SWITCH AND SIGNAL COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

' RELAY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 7, 1915.

Application filed October 29, 1908. Serial No. 460,127.

To all 'wiwmc't may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT V. T. DAY, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Rochelle, in the county of Westchester and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Relays, of which the following is a specificatems for railways.

In. the co-pending application, filed by Clarence W. Coleman and myself July 6, 1908, Serial Number 442,021 I have de scribed a relay ofthe type above referred to, which comprises a field member having a central pole and an annular pole and an armature coil mounted between these poles and arranged to move laterally.

One object of the present invention is to produce a relay operating upon the same principle as the relay disclosed in said application, and with the same or substantially the same efficiency, but in which the construction of the field member is modified in such a manner as to render it simple and inexpensive in construction.

To this end I propose to construct the field member with a middle pole piece and a plurality of outer pole pieces directed inwardly toward the middle pole piece, the field member being wound and magnetized in such a manner that the outer pole pieces are all of the same polarity while the middle pole piece is of the opposite polarity.

Other objects and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the illustrated embodiment of e invention.

I will now describe the embodiment of my invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings and will thereafter point out my invention in claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a relay embodying the present invention. Fig. 2 is an end view of the relay, looking from right to left in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the field member and the armature coil taken on the line ww in Fig. 2. Flg. 4 is a diagram illustrating a portion of an electric signal-controlling sys-' term in which my improved relay is em-' ployed.

The illustrated relay has a field member comprising two outer pole pieces 1 and 2 and a middle pole piece 3. The latter is in the form of a flattened core. The outer pole pieces are fixed at their outer ends to crosspieces 4 and 5, and the ends of the crossnated structure.

The members 4, 5 and 6 constitute a yoke connecting both of the pole pieces 1 and 2 with the ends of the core. The inner ends of the and 2 starting from the center of the 'core in opposite directions, passing through the yoke to the outer pole pieces, and thence returning through the air gap to the core.

The field is energized by two coils 7 molunted on the outer 001 pieces and an opposite conse uent pole at the center of the core 8. In this manner .a magnetic field is formed in which lines of force pass betweenvthe core d the outer pole pieces 1 and 2 respectively in opposite directions, and'these lines of force are concentrated between the outer pole pieces and the middle of the core.

e field member is supported in fixed position by two arms 8 depending from the base plate 9 of the relay, and the terminals of the field coils 7 aresuitably connected with two binding posts 27 mounted on the base plate 9.

The armature is actuated by an armature coil 11. This at y. The armature coil is supportedby two depending arms 12, which are fixed to a cross-bar 13. is crossbar is pivoted on pivot screws 14, which are mounted in depending arms 15 on the base plate 9. The arms 12 are of such length that the short permit the coil to move freely later-.

are through which the armature coil moves is substantially a straight line, so that the movement of the coil is substantially a lateral movement of translation between the pole pieces.

The movements of the armature coil are utilized to actuate circuit-controlling contact members. For this purpose two contact fingers 17 are mounted upon insulating blocks 18 fixed to a plate 16 integral with the cross-bar 13. These contact fingers carry contact springs 19 and 20, which engage, respectively, upper fixed contacts 21 and lower fixed contacts 24. The upper contacts 21 are mounted on an insulating block 22 fixed to the base plate and are connected with binding posts 23. The are integral'with arms 25 depending from the insulating block 22 and connected with binding posts 26.

The armature coil 11 is connected with two binding posts 28by means of suitable flexible lead wires, which are omitted for the sake of clearness from the'drawings.

In the normal inactive or deenergized condition of the relay the armature coil hangs substantially in a median position between the field poles, While the bias due to the unbalanced weight of the contact fingers maintains the back contacts 20 and 2 1 in engagement. If, now, either the field or the armature alone be energized with an alternating current or a current of any character, no movement of the armature will occur, but if both field and armature be energized with alternating currents of the same frequency and of suitable phase relation, the armature coil will tend to move;in one direction or the other laterally owing to the fact that the current flowing through the upper and lower portions of the coil flows perpendicular to the magnetic lines of force in the field. By reversing the phase relation between the two currents, the direction of movement of the armature coil will be reversed, so that the relay operates as a polarized relay for alternating or periodic currents. If the armature and field coils were in inductive relation to each other, then upon energizing either the armature or the field with a periodic current, there would be a tendency to induce a periodic current in the other member, with its circuit closed, and the mutual result of the inducing and the induced currents would be a repulsive eifect tending to move the armature coil. In the illustrated form of field, however, since there are two magnetic circuits opposite in their inductive effects on the armature coil, the armature and field are in non-inductive "relation to each other and the normal and proper operation of the relay is not interfered with.

The usual manner of use of my improved relay is to energize one element of the relay lower fixed contacts 2 i with an alternating current from a regular source, and to connect the other element with the circuit by which the relay is to be controlled. The movement of the armature then depends upon the presence in said circuit of current of the proper character. In Fig. 4: such an application of the relay is illustrated, the relay being used in connection with an electric signal system for railways. The diagram illustrates one complete signal block and portions of two adjacent blocks. One of the track rails 30 is divided at each end of the block by an insulating joint 31 and at the advance end of each block the two rails are connected by wires 32 with the secondary winding of a transformer 33. The several transformers are energized through transmission wires 3& by a gener-- ator 35 located at any convenient point in the system.

The trains move westwardly, that is, from right to left, in the figure, and at the entrance end of each block is a signal 38, which may be an ordinary semaphore having a bias to danger position, but normally maintained in clear position by electrically-controlled mechanism of any ordinary or suitable construction. Each signal is controlled through a local circuit by a track relay 36 constructed in accordance with the present invention. I

The armature coil of each relay 36 isconstantly energized through wires 42, 43 and 44 by alternating current from a transformer 41. The transformers 41 are energized from the generator 35 through the transmission line, so that they furnish current of definite phase relation with that supplied to the rails by the transformers 33.

Each relay has its field coils connected across the track rails by wires 37 In the normal condition of the apparatus current 7 from each transformer 33 passes through a track circuit comprising the two track rails, the wires 37, and the field coils of the relay 36. Since both the armature coil and the field coils of each relay are thus normally energized by currents of the same frequency and ofdefinite phase relation, each relay normally maintains its contact finger 17 in engagement with its front contact and thereby maintains closed a local circuit including the signal 38. This local circuit is energized by the local transformer 41 and passes through wires 39, 40 and 42. The signal is thus held normally cleared.

In the above-described system, if a train they afford paths of comparatively low resistance for the current from the transfformer 33 at the advance end of the block The field of the relay,

therefore, is denergized and-the armature is released and opens the signal circuit, allowing the signal to go to danger position.

ough my improved relay is designed various modificabvious, also, that be made in the embodiment of tions may my invention hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings within the nature of the invention and the scope of the following claims.

0 aim: 1. A relay comprising two coils supported to afford other and the axis of one disposed in the plane of the other,

and magnetic material coils are in their normal relative positions. relay comprising an armature core, a a field core disposed in the presenting one polar end toward the side of the armature core at a point midway between its ends, and an armature winding surrounding the armature core in a position to be cally intersected by th fie d core.

3. A relay comprising an armature core, two field cores presenting respective polar he armature field normally symmetrie magnetic flux of the mature core, and a field winding on the field coreT In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' ALBERT V. '1. DAY. Witnesses:

HENRY D. WILLIAMS, BERNARD COWEN. 

